Flourless Dark Chocolate Espresso Cookies w/Butterscotch Chips

Yes, I said flourless. But no, don’t change the channel! These cookies are for everyone! And by everyone, I mean those who are gluten eatin’ and those who are gluten avoidin’!

I made these cookies last night and I couldn’t believe how amazing they were. I was so excited!

Then I went to take pictures of them today and I wasn’t so excited. They were really hard to photograph and I just wasn’t pleased. But I decided to make due anyway.

Then my husband told me they looked like “turd cookies.” Uh. Gross. So I debated not putting them up. You see my husband is not only my biggest fan, but he can be one of my biggest critics too. That is why I love him so much. He challenges me.

Meet my other biggest critic. Our grumpy kitty, Shadow, who is not amused by me or my sous chef Wyatt.

But I HAD to post these. They have blown my baking mind. And they are about to blow yours.

I’ve been doing some research to refine my old gluten free cookie recipes (I am just not happy with their texture). But in the meantime I was searching for other flourless recipes and I ran across these.

You may have heard of them because I saw several other bloggers have posted about them.

Heres the deal. Four ingredients: Powdered sugar, cocoa powder, egg whites, salt. The results: The chewiest, fudgiest, chocolate cookie I have ever made. And they are gluten free! And dairy free! Say what?!

The original recipe is from King Arthur Flour. Don’t ask me why they have a recipe for a flourless cookie. It doesn’t make since to me either. But I’m happy they do!

I tweaked it a bit and came up with a good base recipe. I then spruced it up with some espresso powder and butterscotch chips.

This is also a great time to do a little educating about cocoa powders. YAY learning!

Here we go with installment #4 of Baker Bettie’s Cookies Are The New Cupcake Series!

In baking you will almost always want to use unsweetened cocoa powder. Sweetened cocoa powder is good for mixing to make chocolate milk or hot chocolate, but unsweetened is what you want to use for baking so that you can control the sugar content.

You will hear about two different kinds of unsweetened cocoa powder: Natural, and Dutch Processed. There are also powders out there that are a combination of the two, like Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder, which is what I usually use.

When I first started baking I thought that the two kinds of powder were interchangeable. They aren’t. They not only have different flavors but they react differently in baked goods.

Natural Cocoa Powder is darker in color and richer in taste than the reddish dutch-processed cocoa powder. It also has an acidic component to it that needs to be neutralized with baking soda if the desire is for the baked good to rise (leavening).

Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder is a reddish brown color and is more mild in taste. It has gone through a treatment to neutralize the acidic component. Therefore, baking soda (whose purpose is to neutralize acidity to create leavening) is not effective with dutch-processed cocoa powder and baking powder must be used if leavening is desired.

This recipe does not call for either baking soda or baking powder because it is not meant to rise. The recipe calls for dutch-processed cocoa powder and because of the acidity of natural cocoa powder, the cookies can taste burnt before they are finished cooking if you try to substitute.

I used Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder in this recipe which is a blend, and it worked well. The acidity is not as high in this powder as with a powder that is only natural and not blended with dutch-processed.

You would never ever, ever, ever, in a million years, guess that these were gluten free. Never. Seriously!

Whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and kosher salt. Add two egg whites and whisk into the dry ingredients until completely incorporated. You are wanting a thick, brownie batter, consistency here. If you need more moisture add another egg white and part or all of the 4th until it is the right consistency. Chill the batter for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or foil and spray them with non-stick spray (this is important or it is difficult to get them off the paper.) Using a small cookie scoop (about 1 tbsp) scoop batter onto the cookie sheets 6 on each. Bake for 8-12 minutes until the edges are set. (10 minutes was perfect for mine.) Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing from the foil or parchment. RESIST the temptation to eat them while warm. They are impossible to remove from the paper or foil while warm. Makes 16-18 cookies.

Add two egg whites and whisk into the dry ingredients until completely incorporated. You are wanting a thick, brownie batter, consistency here. If you need more moisture add another egg white and part or all of the 4th until it is the right consistency.

Fold in the butterscotch chips Chill the batter for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or foil and spray them with non-stick spray (this is important or it is difficult to get them off the paper.)

These look so yummy. Great recipe. I am always looking for something flourless. I am not gluten intolerant, I just try to keep my intake of wheat down.

I actually think your photos are really good. The milk looks so appetising next to the rich chocolatey biscuits (yes I am from Australia :))

Keep up the great posts, which will inevitibly lead to me gaining 5 kilos from all the baking your are inspiring me to do. All I do now is wait for a family events so I have an excuse to show off another recipe 😉 Thanks!

There are several out there that do but it just isn’t my style. I am more interested in food styling and food photography than pictures of the process. I try to be as detailed as possible in my instructions and will always answer any questions you have! Feel free to pick my brain!

I also often bake at night and have to take pictures in the morning really quick before work with the natural light. If I bake something during the day soon I will take pics of the steps while I have natural light just for you! 🙂

Hi Baker Bettie,
I agree with you, I do step-by-step photos in my blog (just because that style helped me learn to cook – mostly from the famous blogger, Pioneer Woman) but I like your blog style, and I especially respect that you create your own recipes and teach us some science behind it.

Furthermore, what you said about natural light is SO true. Any research I do on food photography says that it is essential. As a newlywed/beginner baker/cook and an even beginner photographer who cooks late at night before work (I work the night shift), I have to take my photos in yucky apartment kitchen lighting, so I agree with you.

In my new post, I just played around with natural light and what a difference, but not always possible – who cooks dinner in the afternoon, anyways? Ps. Love the cat on husband photo and they are still beautiful, I love your food photography and your blog – I just caught up on your past posts…I’m definitely a follower.
<3 Cait (www.caitsfoodtherapy.wordpress.com)

However, good to know that I have both of the other kinds of cocoa powder mentioned in the post, and can proceed happily to making these cookies. I think the mix-ins are going to make this a very versatile cookie recipe to have!

Why do you constantly do this to me with each posting? I am drooling over everything you show on here and thank goodness i can’t eat it or else I’d be 400 pounds! 🙂 I especially love the way these cookies look because 1) I am a chocoholic and 2) they look nice and thin with a wonderful chewy consistency. You rock, despite your cat being less than enthralled by the outcome!

I have to say I am LOVING this cookie series! I will have to give these a go. Just a question, I’m from Australia so I was just wondering what you mean by kosher salt? Kosher to me says abiding by Jewish rules but I’m pretty ignorant in that respect, so wondering what that means when it comes to salt!

I’m also with the previous commenter above, I had no idea they made sweetened cocoa powder. And I’m off to check my box now to see what type it is. Loving the science lessons too 🙂

Kosher salt is a more coarse grain than table salt, but not quite as coarse as sea salt. It also doesn’t have iodine added like table salt does. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it is Kosher certified. I know it is confusing. BUT whatever salt you usually bake with is fine.

Maybe sweetened cocoa powder is just something we have here in America. Not sure. But at least here, if you look on your cocoa powder it will say “Sweetened” or “Unsweetened”

Thank you for the recipe! I love backing cookies but it’s always difficult to find a good gluten free cookies recipe (my sister and my mother can’t eat gluten). These cookies look tasty. I’m definitely cooking them on sunday. I’ll tell you about the experience.

Turd cookies. *snickering* That gave me a good chuckle 🙂
Thank you for that cocoa powder lesson! I had noooooooo clue about it and now will be more mindful when baking. Seriously, I am so excited to put my newfound knowledge to work 🙂

HA! You sound like me. I think about food all day. And sometimes bake in my dreams. I learn some new baking rule and think about all the things I need to do go remake and see if it works. Glad I could fill your day with sweet thoughts! 🙂

I don’t know what you are complaining about, your pictures look freaking fantastic.

And I also love the picture of grumpy kitty.

And flourless does not scare me one bit. My host mom in France taught me to make a flourless chocolate torte and I will never forget it. So easy, and people go gaga over it with a little raspberry sauce.

I think these are beautiful! They look perfectly fudgy-just gorgeous. And I love the simplicity! Speaking of turd cookies (and I disagree, these do NOT look like turds-lol!) if you want to see some that REALLY look like turds you should check out my husband’s cookie handiwork: http://veronicascornucopia.com/2010/07/21/no-bake-cookie-bars/

i giggled about the comment that your husband made about your cookies and told my boyfriend, to which he responded: “yeah, they look like turd cookies with corn in them!” yet he wants me to make them haha. he’s weird.

I just made these, despite being in the UK, and being used to using grams instead of cups, I gave it a go.
The consistency was perfect, and all went well, up until the point of baking. Whilst reading the instructions, I automatically assumed that the 350 degrees was Fahrenheit, not Celsius (duh!) . As a result of this, the first batch were burnt, and the second weren't much better! After changing the temperature, they came out perfectly.

Although they were a little sickly, this was a great recipe, thank-you for uploading 🙂 x